One year ago today ...

Anne was discharged after 29 days in the NICU. I think we may have gotten only an hour of sleep among the three of us that night. It's been a long year, but today, Anne is doing so well! And she sleeps for 10 or 11 hours most nights.

She reached another milestone today -- first ear infection. Poor kiddo had a cold that left her with a runny nose for a couple of weeks; the drainage settled in her ears. Fingers crossed she starts feeling better soon!

The park! The park! The park!

A highlight of most days for Anne is the playground at Stanton Park in our neighborhood. Anne is not walking yet, but she is crawling, and she is into everything. Here are some pictures Grandma Gloria took this week. (Click to enlarge.)





Bigger version of Anne spinning -- Dad says Aunt Sarah loved spinning this much, too. See this smile?

Our good eater (video)

Anne is slowly transitioning from baby food to table food, and she is quite the good eater. By good, we mean that she tries everything we give her. And she likes nearly everything, too!

Daddy was out of the country all week, so Grandma Gloria was here to help mom, and she cooked up a storm for Anne. Here's a video of Anne trying Grandma's pot roast, carrots and potatoes.

Catching up with Anne

Anne has lots to say these days. Sometimes "mama" and "dada," but mostly just lots of interesting syllable combinations.

Birthday girl

Anne's first birthday is today, April 26. We did our celebrating over the weekend. It was eventful, though most of those events did not go as planned.

First, Anne came down with a stomach virus and was feeling very poorly all weekend (she even got sick in church on Easter Sunday, poor kiddo). Then, her Gram Sheri and Grandpa Dan got grounded by the tornado in Missouri and couldn't come visit. Then mom and Grandma Gloria came down with the stomach bug, too!

Of course, we know all about things not going as planned. We never planned to have a baby five weeks early, and we never planned for her to weigh only three pounds when she arrived. We never planned for our baby's first weeks and months to be so challenging. But we made it! And today Anne is a happy, laughing, healthy little girl.

Here are some pictures from her birthday celebration. We kept it low-key, with Grandpa Tom and Grandma Gloria; Anne's nanny, Lucia; and our neighbors, Roxie, Annika and Paul. Anne was just feeling crummy, although her big-girl friend Annika was pretty good at cheering her up.


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One of Anne's gifts was a play kitchen from Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Tom. Anne helped Grandpa put it together before her party.


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And don't feel too badly that Anne couldn't really enjoy cake for her birthday -- she had some cupcake beforehand, for Grandpa Tom's birthday on Thursday. She went right for the icing and loved the whole thing.

Our cherry blossom tree

Last time the pink cherry blossom tree outside our house bloomed, Anne had just arrived and was still in the hospital. This year, she got to see and taste it!



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Anne times eleven

Anne's getting ready for her big birthday weekend, with grandparents galore and a cake to celebrate. Unfortunately, she seems to have come down with a little tummy bug, so she may not get to have cake when Mom and Dad had planned on Saturday evening. (Confession: We know Anne likes cake, because we let her have some for her Grandpa Tom's birthday on Thursday. Photos to come!)

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